Bills filed in the waning days of the odd-year legislative session are often considered throw-away bills — filed weeks after deadlines for committee hearings and passage in the current year, most of them are left in the dustbin when the even-year session comes around. But they can provide some useful insight into the workings of the minds of the legislators who file them — in terms of what their ideology is or who they feel they need to appease.

Mayer’s State Rep. Ernie Leidiger was listed as an author on two bills to be introduced today — H.F. 1833 and H.F. 1834 — which are, well, interesting. Both bills are chief authored by freshman Rep. Jim Newberger (R-Becker).

H.F. 1833 is designed to protect Minnesota from the scourge of United Nations Agenda 21. To most of the world, Agenda 21 is a non-binding, voluntarily implemented United Nations effort to encourage sustainable development practices. The practical impact of such efforts have been uncontroversial and common-sense things like state or county level requirements for comprehensive land use plans for local governments and ENERGYSTAR ratings for applicances. But to a few, it’s something far more sinister: the end of America as we know it. Glenn Beck, for instance, has turned Agenda 21 resistance into its own cottage industry — tying all his mediaplatforms to it. And, sadly, it’s not just talk radio blowhards getting in on the act. Bluestem Prairie’s Sally Jo Sorensen has been on Minnesota links to this movement — see here and here. Newberger himself has long been a proponent of such ideology, as documented here. Even State Rep. Cindy Pugh (R-Chanhassen) has gotten in on the act, back in her SW Metro Tea Party days. (Incidentally, the SW Metro Tea Party will be holding another Agenda 21 session next week –postponed from April.)

Meanwhile, H.F. 1834 is a resolution designed to restore what proponents see as the rightful purpose of the federal government as limited by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution. Followers of this ideology — known by some as “Tenthers” — believe that many of the things the federal government does today, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans programs, and federal drug enforcement, are not valid. This is milder version of legislation from last session that sought to give the state the right to nullify federal laws that were judged by the Legislature to be outside of its purview. The nullification issue, though, has long been settled from a legal perspective, however, and was settled once and for all by the Civil War.

The marriage equality bill passed the Minnesota State House of Representatives today 75-59. Four Republican Representatives voted in favor of the bill: Jenifer Loon (Eden Prairie), Andrea Kieffer (Woodbury), Pat Garofalo (Farmington), and David FitzSimmons (Albertville), while two DFL Representatives voted against it: Patti Fritz (Faribault) and Mary Sawatzky (Willmar).

Carver County Representatives Joe Hoppe (R-Chaska), Ernie Leidiger (R-Mayer), and Cindy Pugh (R-Chanhassen) all voted no, even after FitzSimmons’s amendment to rename all references to “marriage” in Minnesota statute as “civil marriage”, thereby providing additional reassurance that religious institutions would not be impacted by approval of marriage equality.

As previously noted, voters in both Hoppe and Pugh’s districts voted against the marriage amendment last November so they are swimming upstream in this regard. Pugh’s vote is a distinct contrast from her district, as 33B voted against the marriage amendment by 17 points – -the third largest margin of the 21 House Republican districts that voted against the amendment.

The Minnesota House of Representatives will vote on H.F. 1054 — the marriage equality bill — on Thursday. The movement of this bill to the floor is a signal from leadership in the DFL majority that they have the necessary 68 votes to pass the bill, as Speaker of the House Paul Thissen has indicated he would not bring the bill up for vote unless there was sufficient votes to pass it.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk says he has sufficient votes in his caucus to pass the bill in that chamber as well, but does not intend to bring the bill to the floor until after the House vote. Governor Mark Dayton has indicated he will sign the bill if it passes both chambers.

Ten states currently have marriage equality, and Delaware’s legislature is also voting on the issue this week (with passage expected).

Meanwhile, negotiations designed to produce a compromise budget between the House, Senate, and Governor are ongoing. As noted previously, untangling the three tax plans is likely to biggest source the most difficult challenge faced by the negotiators. With less than two weeks left in the session, the pace is likely to be rather hectic to get through all the necessary business by then.

The marriage equality bill, S.F. 925, had a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. State Senator Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen) was part of the party-line vote on the bill, with all five DFLers voting in favor of the bill and all three Republicans voting against the bill. The bill is now eligible to vote to the full Senate for a vote.

In the 2012 election, Ortman’s SD 47 voted in favor of the amendment, earning 51.4% of the votes. However, the results sharply varied from the eastern side of the district to the west. The eastern portion of the district, House District 47B, voted against the amendment (only 45.4% voting yes), while the western portion of the district, House District 47A, had 57.5% voting yes. It will be interesting to see if the dynamics in 47B play a role in influencing State Rep. Joe Hoppe’s vote. Hoppe voted in favor of the amendment last session.

The counterpart bill in the House, H.F. 1054, had a hearing this morning in the Civil Law Committee that will continue tonight. State Rep. Cindy Pugh, who represents northeast Chanhassen as part of District 33B, sits on that committee. Pugh is a solid “no” vote on marriage equality.

Minnesota’s Legislature gavels back into session tomorrow, with DFL majorities ready to take the reins from the Republicans. Carver County’s population growth over the last decade will mean additional representation for the County, as northeast Chanhassen will be represented by legislative newcomers State. Sen David Osmek and State Rep. Cindy Pugh, while the rest of the county will return State Sen. Julianne Ortman, State Rep. Joe Hoppe, and State Rep. Ernie Leidiger to their positions. Before we turn the page on the 2011-2012 session, let’s look back at the highlights and lowlights for Ortman, Hoppe, and Leidiger as well as a look forward to what they might do in this session.

State. Sen Julianne Ortman

State Sen. Julianne Ortman

By the numbers: Chief authored 61 bills, and 16 were passed by the Legislature (10 were signed into law and 6 vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton).

Highlights: Ortman was one of the most powerful figures in the Senate last session, chairing the Tax Committee and being elevated to Deputy Majority Leader following the Amy Koch scandal. Legislatively, Ortman’s role on the Tax Committee gave her leverage in the budget negotiations in 2011. Ortman also was able to pass some useful judicial reform, raising the dollar limit for cases that can be pursued in conciliation court.

The Future: Ortman will be the ranking minority member of the Senate Tax Committee, which will give her a platform to critique and potentially influence the Governor’s expected tax reform package.

State Rep. Joe Hoppe

State Rep. Joe Hoppe

By the numbers: Chief authored 31 bills, and 11 were passed by both houses of the Legislature (9 were signed into law, and 2 were vetoed).

Highlights: Hoppe chaired the Commerce Committee and he continued his record of working on business regulation reform, passing bills that tweaked rules related to health care premium-setting, licensing in the real estate market and allowing blackjack at Canterbury Park and Running Aces while allowing tribal casinos to do off-track betting on horse racing. Hoppe was also a key supporter of the Minnesota Vikings stadium effort.

Lowlights: Hoppe had sought a significant reform to Minnesota’s Public Employee Insurance Program (PEIP), changing the process for education unions to enter PEIP. Currently, if a majority of eligible union members approve, the union can enter PEIP. Under the legislation, additional approval by the employer (in this case, the school district) would have been required as well. This was a serious point of contention between school boards and Education Minnesota. Gov. Dayton vetoed the measure. Hoppe also — after repeatedly claiming that he didn’t like legislating by constitutional amendment — carried Ortman’s spending-related amendment in the House and voted for the gay marriage and voter ID amendments.

Looking forward: Hoppe will be the Republican lead on the Commerce Committee. Given his good working relationship with DFL Chair Rep. Joe Atkins, we can expect Hoppe to continue to produce similar efforts at regulatory reform.

State Rep. Ernie Leidiger

State Rep. Ernie Leidiger

By the numbers: Chief authored 10 bills, and 2 were passed by both houses of the Legislature (1 signed into law, 1 vetoed).

Highlights: Leidiger had few legislative accomplishments to note during the session. The one bill he authored that was signed into law requires law enforcement to fingerprint those arrested for violation of a domestic abuse no contact order.

Looking Forward: Leidiger was one of the least productive of the House’s GOP freshmen last session. Out of 31, he ranked 29th in bills chief authored, tied for 22nd in bills signed into law, and was only asked to participate in one of 92 conference committees to hash out final versions of bills. As a member of the legislative minority now, Leidiger looks destined for a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing unless he radically changes his approach to the job.

Sen. Julianne Ortman voted in favor of the right-to-work constitutional amendment in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. The amendment now moves to the Senate Rules Committee, and if it passes, it could move to the floor for final approval.

Chanhassen resident Cindy Pugh has announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for State House in District 33B (northeastern Chanhassen plus the Lake Minnetonka region). Pugh will be challenging incumbent GOP State Rep. Steve Smith, who is running for his 12th term. Pugh is a well-known Republican activist and the co-founder of the SW Metro Tea Party group.

Tickets for the First Annual Chaska BBQ Bash are now available. The event is being put together by the Pride of Chaska group and benefits Chaska High School Activities and Athletics. The event is on Friday, April 20 at Hazeltine National Golf Club and features a live auction emceed by WCCO-TV’s Frank Vascellero.